


hello, hello is anybody listening?

by boxofnothing



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Abandoned children, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Cursed Storybrooke, F/F, F/M, Future Fic, Loneliness, new villain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-12-21 03:42:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11935596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boxofnothing/pseuds/boxofnothing
Summary: Another curse strikes Storybrooke rendering Emma unseen to everyone. Will Emma be able to stand the loneliness? Will she be able to break the curse? Or will another step up to the Savior plate?





	hello, hello is anybody listening?

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea ever since I listened to Kelly Clarkson's song, Hello from her Stronger album. I highly recommend the song. It's a fast upbeat depressing song. But the lyrics are amazing and that's what this fic is based off of. I hope you all enjoy because I really like this fic.

“Are you happy?”

Emma was lying in a hospital bed looking at Killian with loving eyes as he looked down with love at their 7 pounds, 8 ounces of pure joy. He looked up from their daughter to look her. Wonderment and love were practically dripping out of his eyes, Emma could tell.

“How could I not be, love?”

“I don’t know. I just wanted to make sure.” There was always going to be a part of her that thought he might bail and leave her alone like Neal did all those years ago, even though she knows it is completely irrational.

“I have the two loves of my life right here. I don’t think I can be happier than I am right now.”

Emma looks at him and smiles. How did she get so lucky? How did she go from the orphaned girl with no family to this. Married to the love of her life with a beautiful baby girl with Killian’s eyes.

Emma doesn’t know a lot of things about herself still. She doesn’t know if she’s going to be able to be the mother that little girl needs. 

She doesn’t know if that orphan girl from before still exists.

She doesn’t know if she’ll be able to do any of what is coming in the future.

But she does know that she’s not alone. No one needs to show her now. She might need to remind herself that sometimes but she doesn’t need anyone to show her because it’s obvious she isn’t anymore.

...

4298 Days Later

 

“Killian! We need to go!”

“I know, I know! I’m coming love! Liam put all my ties in the toilet!”

“Liam!” She looks down and scolds her son, “I thought we told you to stop doing that. What exactly does throwing all your father’s ties in the toilet accomplish?”

“I wanted to wash them.”

“That’s what washing machines are for. Or sinks!”

“But the toilet is easier to reach.”

“Ok, Liam, I- You know what we're going to talk about punishment later. We really need to go. Joss won’t be happy if we show up late. Killian, hurry up! We need to go!”

“I’m ready.” He says rushing down the stairs and turning left into the kitchen. “I just need my keys.”

“I’ve got them. Let’s go.”

“Ok, ok, but let me just kiss my wife first.”

“Hmmm. Do we actually have time?”

“Love, there is always time.” He brings his lips down to hers and for just a second she lets herself melt into him. Everything she’s afraid might happen tonight melts away for a second and seems to be irrelevant. He carefully pulls away and rests his forehead on hers, “I know you’re scared and stressed about what might happen tonight, but no matter what happens, we’ll get through it.”

“I know, I know.”

“Well, we need to go Swan. We can’t keep the lass waiting.”

“No, we can’t can we.” Emma regardless of her fears for tonight let’s go of her husband’s arm and walks through the door. KIllian is not far behind her because she can hear the door pulled shut behind him. She couldn’t help but hold her breath. What if she unleashed the curse she’d been threatening for weeks right now? what if it happened? It is possible. They figured she’d release when most of the town was together and today would be the perfect time. The perfect time for the most destruction.

It can’t happen today. She’s not ready. She’ll never be ready.

“Swan?” She shook out of her thoughts and looked at her husband. He looked concerned, yet he looked like that most days now so she has trouble knowing now. “What’s wrong?”

She doesn’t say anything. Emma just pulls Killian close to her and buries her face into his neck.

“What if she does it tonight?”

“I don’t know.”

“Killian, we all know what she’s going to do and I’m not ready to give this up. I’ll never be ready to give this up.”

“I know, Swan. I know. I’m not either. After the Black Fairy I thought we were done and but now we have another person trying take what we have away. I never thought I’d have a life like this either.”

“I wanted more time.”

“I did too. But no matter what happens, whoever the savior is this time, they will find a way and they will be able to break the curse and we will see each other again.”

“I know.”

“Ok, then are you ready to see our daughter dominate as your mother because I cannot wait.”

Emma laughed and grabbed his hand one more time, squeezing it gently before letting her hand pull away to get in the car.

...

Emma woke up in her seat in the auditorium. She remembers sitting down to see Joss’s play with Liam, Killian, and the rest of her family, yet she’s the only one sitting there.

She looks all around her and realizes her family didn’t just abandon her. She’s the only one even in the dark auditorium. It’s as if everyone got up and left her. As if she had already left. They cleaned up and left her here. It was obvious that there was a play here but it was weird that they would leave a person here to sit alone.

Emma stood up and started to leave the auditorium.

It felt weird being in there all alone. Of all the people in town she never thought she would’ve been forgotten. Killian at least would’ve woken her up and she never in her right mind would’ve fallen asleep during her daughter’s play. Joss had been so excited for weeks now. She hadn’t told them anything about the play, just that they would absolutely love it.

Emma smiles at the memory of Joss telling them at the table that she didn’t want to spoil any of it for them.

Emma exits the auditorium and is hit by the cold December air, but there’s something off about how the air is rolling off of her. She doesn’t feel the need to pull her thin sweater further over her frame like she did last night with her coat. But she doesn’t realize that she can’t feel the cold. She pushes on into the street. She has to run through town to get back home. She doesn’t pass anyone until she nears the clock tower. She rushes past Marco without a second thought.

She pushes forward her feet starting to get wet from the snow buts she doesn’t notice. When she passes Granny’s she nearly runs into Archie. That’s when she stops.

“Archie, I’m so sorry. I’m just trying to get home. Can you believe that they left me in the auditorium asleep. It’s ridiculous.” She laughs weakly at the end. She knows that this had to be a joke.

But Archie doesn’t even acknowledge her.

“Archie? I apologized and it was an accident.”

But Archie keeps walking. That’s so unlike him. He’s always so accepting and I didn’t even run into him. Emma thinks. She rushes back to get in front of him and get her to talk to him.

When she stops again in front of him she says, “Archie-” but he keeps walking on right past her. That’s when it really strikes her that something might be wrong.

She walks up to Granny’s to see if she can get some answers. Archie could just be having a bad day but this is Archie. She can’t think of time since when Cora pretended to be him that Archie wasn’t one of the kindest people in town. She opens the door and hears the gentle chime of the bell alerting Granny that someone entered the establishment. She watches Granny look up at her but then mutter, “Goddamn door again. I have to talk to Marco about getting it fixed.”

It’s as if she isn’t even there.

Emma looks around the diner and sees her parents both sitting in the diner. David was sitting at the counter and carefully cupping a cup of coffee in his hands staring blankly at the wall in front of him and Snow was sitting in a booth with a mug of hot chocolate and a book. Her phone placed on the table beside her.

That’s odd. Emma thinks again. She can’t remember the last time the two of them were in this diner and didn’t sit together. Even if they got in a fight they would still sit together.

Emma decides to go to Snow first considering her father looks so far gone in thought.

Emma slides into the booth opposite of Snow and says, “So what the hell? What kind of joke was it to leave me in the auditorium overnight? And I know Regina’s the mayor and all but my back does not appreciate being forced to sleep there all night.” There was no malice in Emma’s words. She just wants to know why, but Snow doesn’t even look up from her book. It’s as if she can’t even hear her.

“Oh come on! First, Archie and now you? Mom, what the hell did I do to deserve the cold shoulder? It’s as if I’m invis- No. No. No no no no no no nonononononononononono. NO! This can’t be happening. It was a fucking children’s play! WHAT THE FUCKING HELL DID IT DO TO HER?!”

It all made sense. It all made fucking sense now. Why hadn’t she even put it together when she woke up in the auditorium? Killian never in his right mind would’ve left her alone there. The goddamn pain in her ass for the last 6 months finally went through with her threats and enacted the curse. With basically all the town heroes in one fucking spot.

She tries to remember last night but she really can’t. Emma just remembers heading out of the house with Killian and Liam and then heading out to the play. That’s it. She remembers the nervous energy she felt for Joss and the impending curse threat on the play but that’s it. She doesn’t even remember any of Joss’ performance.

Oh no. Joss, Killian, Liam, and Henry. She hasn’t seen them yet. What happened to them? Can Killian at least still see her? Can they break the curse and this can all be over? But what if He can’t see her and he’s just kissing air. It’ll mean nothing. It’s the same thing with the memory.

Emma jumps out of the booth and makes a beeline for the door, wrenching it open and slipping out into the winter air to find her family.

...

“Daddy no! Don’t let her take us! We want to stay with you!” Emma hears from the house through the open door. Emma rushes to the door to see a woman pulling Joss away from Killian with one arm and holding Liam’s hand with her other.

“Do you really have to do this ?” Killian asks desperately.

“Yes, I have gotten complaints that you are not treating them right.”

“What complaints? Since when have I ever hurt my children? I would never lay a hand on them like that!”

“Killian, it’s the drinking. I know it’s been hard since your wife died but alcohol is not the place the one to turn to if you need help.” He straightens his back and turns to Joss. Emma knows that what the woman said to him must’ve been true because he immediately changes his demeanor. 

He kneels down to their daughter and gently grasps her shoulders, “Joss, honey, I love you. You know that right?”

She vigorously nods her head as if saying it quicker meant that she could stay with him.

“Honey, I need some time by myself for a little while. Ok? I’ll see you soon, so please go with Miss. Rapponet.”

“No, Daddy, please! I want to stay with you. I promise I’ll be good. Please Daddy! We need to stay together! Mommy would want us to stay together!” She cried, tears starting to stream down her face and drip off her chin.

Killian pulls Joss in for a hug. “Honey, I love you and I always will but right now the best place you can be right now is with Miss. Rapponet. Mommy would understand.”

“NO, SHE WOULDN’T! MOMMY WOULD WANT US ALL TOGETHER! LIKE A FAMILY!”

“Joss, you need to go. Please.” Killian pleads with her. Emma can see the tears starting to well in his eyes but he keeps them in. She knows how much he hates crying in front of anyone. Even her. And she knows he is having a hard time pushing Joss away from him and into the woman’s arms.

The whole scene makes her stomach lurch. Why would Killian be made a drunk in this life? Is it to hurt him? Is it to make him so unhappy and miserable? She doesn’t understand this curse at all.

She watches as Joss kicks and screams all the way down the walk to the car as she’s dragged to the car. She almost manages to pull away from the woman but it looks like she has an iron grip on her daughter and refuses to let her go.

The whole scene practically destroys Emma to watch. Her very own children being abandoned. It was something she and Killian promised never to let happen to them yet somehow it happened. How the hell did this happen?

How the hell did they let this happen again?

Emma looks from her children being piled into a car and Joss screaming for Killian to him.

He just stands there at the door blankly watching Joss scream her head off and the car pull away. She walks up to him and brushes her hand over his cheek. There’s no acknowledgement of the touch and he continues to look right through her.

It hurts so much.

With her parents not being able to acknowledge her, her children being ripped away from her, and now the love of her life, her true love, looking right through her. It might just be too much for her to handle.

Of all the curses she’s lived through: Regina’s, Pan’s, Zelena’s, Ingrid’s, Isaac’s, Fiona’s, this curse is by far hurting her the most.

Regina’s hurt a lot but she didn’t know she was being cursed so it wasn’t horrible.

Pan’s didn’t end up being bad for her because she couldn’t remember any of her family and she had Henry.

Zelena’s stung watching her mother die and the possibility of her not living through it, but in the end it gave her the strength to pursue a relationship with Killian and she deemed that a success.

Ingrid’s ended well enough for everyone but well Ingrid.

Isaac’s really stung though and showed her what it was like to have the love of her life die by the hands of her father without him knowing exactly really how she felt.

And Fiona’s had left her feeling almost as alone as she’s feeling now.

But this hell was worse.

Whoever did this really wanted her to suffer because this is worse than any hell she could’ve been put through and she had been to hell and back (literally).

She looked Killian in the eyes and before she knew it she had wrapped her arms around him and was trying to pull him into her.

For a moment everything felt alright. It felt safe and that everything was normal.

But it wasn’t.

Killian didn’t wrap his arms around her like her normally did. He barely even moved. She could’ve sworn that for a second his arms tried to instinctively wrap around her but there was nothing there for him to see. In his eyes she wasn’t there.

Emma pulled away and watched as tears finally rolled down Killian’s cheeks. She knew this was hard for him. He was alone. Just like she is. They are both all alone with no one to help them.

...

1076 Days Later

 

Emma woke up like she usually did on her side of the bed. Now it’s just his even though she calls it theirs. To her it’s still their bed and it will always be their bed.

Killian is still asleep beside her like he usually is. She gets up from her place on the bed and pads her way through the hallway and down the stairs. It’s been three years since she’d woken up in the auditorium and since then her life has changed forever.

Over time she’s learned the ins and outs of what she can do as an invisible person can actually do. And she was surprised by how little she actually can’t do. Emma was expecting not to be able to do basically anything but that clearly was not case. But she can actually do almost anything but some simple things she was kind of expecting

The elements have no effect on her. She can walk out in negative temperatures naked if she wanted to and it would have no effect on her.

She can’t change her clothes. She’s stuck with the thin white sweater and leggings for the rest of her life apparently.

She can pick things up but as soon as she is the only thing touching them they’re instantly invisible too. She’d made so many of Killian’s things disappear because she didn’t know how the whole thing worked in the beginning. As long as there was something to tether the item back to the world then it would stay visible. The amount of invisible books she has now is absolutely insane.

And finally her body has miraculously stopped producing waste. No more having to use the bathroom. If she gets drunk then she won’t throw up. That was a plus side to this whole thing.

And finally she discovered she doesn’t have a reflection anymore. That might be one of the hardest things she discovered about herself. She has no idea if she’s aged or if she looks completely broken. It’s so hard. She has spent so much time watching the rest of her family grow and change that she can’t help but think she is stuck in a standstill.

Emma reached the bottom of the stairs and exhaled deeply. She took in the smell of coffee and walked to the living room grabbing her invisible coffee mug and spoon she had stored on the bookshelf. She then walked straight into the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee before Killian made his way downstairs for his own coffee as well. She knew he’d be down in a few minutes because he always was.

She quickly made her cup of coffee, sugar, no cream, and hopped up on the counter to look out the window and enjoy her cup of coffee. She had been sitting there for about 3 minutes when she heard Killian make his way downstairs. So she started what’s been keeping her sane nowadays.

“Hey, I was wondering when you were gonna come down. I’ve been down here for almost 5 minutes.” Killian as usual doesn’t acknowledge her and goes straight for the coffee pot.

“So I was thinking I was gonna go see the kids today. Joss is always wondering when you’re going to come and see them. It’s been so long Killian and they’ve changed so much. Joss has a boyfriend now but I don’t think that’s gonna last honestly.” Killian has the coffee poured and is stirring in the sugar and cream. She knows what he’s going to do next but as she usually stops to see if he makes the right choice. The choice to change his life for the better.

He reaches for the cupboard door where he keeps the liquor. She knows if he starts his day like this then he’s gone for the rest of the day. He takes out the rum and unscrews the cap and right before he pours a generous splash into the coffee like he usually does he stops.

He puts the bottle down on the counter and stares at it as if this is the hardest decision he has ever had to make. Emma holds her breath. Maybe this is it. Maybe he choses his family over the alcohol. Maybe they become more important.

He stays like that for a minute, just staring at the bottle as if his like depends on it. Then suddenly he grabs the bottle and pours a large amount into the coffee and then takes a large swig of the rum straight from the bottle.

Emma sighs and looks back down at her coffee.

“Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.”

...

217 Days Later

 

Today had been a good day. She had gone to see her parents, each separately as usual. Leo was heading off to college soon and she could see it was tearing her mother up. Snow always had Leo to keep her from being truly alone but she watched her mother cry silently after plenty dates had gone bad and she could tell she wanted someone there to keep her company.

Her father was struggling. And she knew he wasn’t going to be able to handle much more of this. David was married to Kathryn again and Emma could tell it was an unhappy marriage. Kathryn’s cheating and she knows that Kathryn might leave David for him eventually, she’s actually surprised it hasn’t happened already. It’s like something is keeping them together that is beyond them. Emma actually think it might be the curse because both of them would be so much happier if the marriage just dissolved and David could act on his feelings for Mary Margaret.

She went to see Joss and Liam like she usually did. She watched them leave school but today she was surprised to see Killian watching Joss from his car across the street. She watched him clench the steering wheel when he saw Joss kiss her boyfriend like she usually does and then walk down the street with him and her best friend, Grace. 

She watched them laugh and walk together. Joss was holding her boyfriend’s hand but Emma watched as Joss seemed to gravitate more towards Grace rather than her boyfriend.

She thought about following Killian, but he sped off the second Joss was out of sight and she had no idea where he went.

After that she decided to see how Regina was doing. She knew the custody battle for Roland and Grace had drained her, but Emma was thankful that she at least had Grace to keep her company. Ever since Robin had gotten back together with his ex-wife and taken Roland and Grace with him, Regina had almost fallen apart. She immediately filed for sole custody of Roland and Grace, but only managed to get custody for Grace. Emma had seen Roland visit Regina occasionally but she knew he had lied to his father about where he was going.

This whole town was fucked up in her opinion.

Almost everyone was alone and had no one. It was so painful to watch and not be able to do anything about and she had tried and it just didn’t work.

Emma ended up back at their house like she usually did and watched Killian as he made himself dinner. He didn’t usually and she loved it when he did because he was such a natural at it. He was just about finished and getting his plate together to eat when he paused.

“Today was a good day.” He muttered to himself.

He didn’t really talk to himself. It was weird because he spent so much time alone and one would expect him to talk to himself a lot, especially with all that’s happened to him but no, he didn’t talk to himself.

He continued to put his plate on the counter along with his silverware. He walked back to the sink when he said it again.

“Today was a good day.” He repeated to himself like it was a mantra.

What is he doing? Emma thought to herself.

Then suddenly he did something she wasn’t expecting. Killian grabbed everything in his liquor cabinet. Absolutely everything and put it all right next to the sink. Then he grabbed bottle after bottle and poured each and every one of them down the drain.

Every ounce of liquor he had went down the drain.

When he was done he stared at the sink like it had just destroyed his life, but he closed his eyes and said again, “Today was a good day.”

He took a deep breath and then turned.

She couldn’t believe he had finally did it. He finally chose to try and- “Who the bloody hell are you?!”

“What?”

“What the hell are you doing in my kitchen?”

“Wait! You can see me?”

“Of course I can see you. You’re sitting on my kitchen counter of course I can see you. What the hell are you doing in my house?”

“Killian, I have been sitting here for over an hour.” She tells him like he should know that even though she knows that he doesn’t know that. There is no possible way he could know that.

“No, lass, that’s not true. I have been making dinner and no one was in my house and now you’re here.” He says gesturing to her sitting comfortably on his countertop.

“Let me explain.” She tries to say quickly knowing that he might angrily dismiss her. She knows that the man in front of her isn’t her Killian.

“Ok continue then.” He leans back on the counter and gestures for her to continue. She can tell that even though he’s acting all calm and collected that he’s freaking out. He starts to run his hand his hair and then scrubs it down his face.

“I’m invisible.” She blurts out faster than she thought she would.

“Yeah right?” He scoffs.

“I’m not kidding around Killian. I have been living in this house for almost four years with you. For some reason right then and there you decided to see me. I don’t know why but you did.”

“How the hell do I know you’re not lying?”

She doesn’t know how to prove this to him. She doesn’t know how she’ll be able to prove to him that she’s actual- Reflections!

“I don’t have a reflection!”

“What?”

“I don’t have a reflection.” She says and grabs his hand as she pulls him to the bathroom. As she suspected she can’t see herself in the mirror and all that reflects back to him is an image of himself.

Killian looks to her with wide eyes. He has no idea how it’s possible. She, herself doesn’t know either but she knows that she’s there but not really there. It’s all so confusing. She’s now she has someone to share the insanity with.

“Oh my god. You really are invisible.”

“I told you.” She whispers.

“Now lass how about we have dinner and you tell me how you ended up invisible to begin with.”

...

386 Days Later

 

All Emma could think about was Joss. She had spent the whole day watching her and Emma didn’t regret a minute of it. Joss had skipped school with Grace and the two of them had ended up on the deserted dock about a mile from town.

Emma had followed them as they walked the hiking trail to the docks and the two sat down and talked for hours.

Grace talked about how she missed her parents together and hated the custody battle. She told Joss how it was like it had happened overnight. How her dad just suddenly developed feelings for his ex-wife again. Even Roland thought of Regina more as his mom than Marian.

Joss and Grace talked about that for hours and then they talked about Joss and her boyfriend, Ian.

Emma watched as Grace tried to look interested but Emma could see her heartbreaking every time Joss gushed but Emma caught the glances Joss threw Grace when she looked away. There was real love in her daughter’s eyes for her best friend. Real feelings.

Then the two had started talking about Rachel and Emma’s stomach lurched. Something about that woman made her uneasy, especially that she had custody of her children.

When Joss had talked about her, she had talked about how she had a bad feeling about her even though she was nice. She had said, “She just doesn’t feel like my mom. I don’t remember a lot about my mom but I know enough. I know that if she was here, I probably wouldn’t be living with Rachel and my dad wouldn’t be the town drunk and I probably wouldn’t be dating Ian.”

When Joss had said all that Emma caught Joss’s side glance to Grace. But it was really her words that packed the biggest punch.

Joss really did miss them and even she had a bad feeling about Rachel. It wasn’t just her.

As she lay in bed next to Killian, That was all she could think about. Her very own daughter had a bad feeling about Rachel. How had she not known tha-

“So I talked to Lacey today. You said you were going to be there but I didn’t see you there.” Killian said breaking her away from her thoughts about Joss, Grace, and Rachel.

“Oh I’m so sorry Killian. I totally forgot you were going to do that today. I got caught up and totally forgot. So what did she say?”

“Love, where could you possibly get caught up. There is no one in this bloody town you can talk to but me.” He turned to look at her with a smile on his face.

“I know I’m so sorry. I got caught up watching Joss and totally forgot about the meet up.”

“Swan. It’s ok. I get it. If I could watch Joss all day I would too.” He smiles knowingly.

“Mmhm.” She mumbles under her breath. All she can think about is Rachel.

“Emma? Are you with me? You seem really out of it.” 

“I’m still thinking Rachel Rapponet is the caster. There’s something off about her.”

“Swan, that woman is one of the nicest women in town. I don’t think she could hurt a fly.” Killian argues, but she still feels certain that there is something off about that woman.

“It’s a gut feeling ok. I really want to trust my gut on this one.”

“What is making your gut think that the woman taking care of our children is the villain of this story.”

“She’s happy.” That wasn’t just it. She swears the woman winked at her once but she can’t confirm that. Also her own daughter has a feeling and feelings should count for something, shouldn’t they?

“You really are delusional.”

“I know, I sound crazy right now and shit maybe I am, but I have spent a lot of time watching the people of Storybrooke. No one in this town is actually happy, Killian. No one.” She looks at him with total seriousness.

“Hmmm.”

“Killian think about it, Mary Margaret has Leo, but that’s about it and he just left for college and now she’s really all alone. David is married to Kathryn and she’s cheating on him, so he’s in a loveless marriage. Don’t even get me started on Regina, her life is a disaster. Then there’s our very own kids. Joss is pretending to be straight because Rachel is as conservative as they come. She’s actually in love with Grace who actually has feelings for Joss but won’t act on them because she’s convinced Joss is straight. Then there’s Liam. Liam is the angriest kid I have ever met because he’s convinced we don’t love him because you didn’t fight to get him and Joss back.”

“Maybe you have a point”

“Of course I have a point. No one in this goddamn town is happy, but you and her.” Emma yells. She knows she’s right. She really wishes she wasn’t though.

“How do you know I’m happy?”

“You better be a little happy.” She remarks and hits him on the shoulder. A look of pain cross his eyes but Emma knows it’s not real because of the smile plastered across his face.

“I am at least a little happy.” Killian leans over Emma and presses a gentle kiss to her lips. . Emma wraps her arms around Killian and pulls him closer to her. She missed this, the intimacy. Not sex. She missed being able to lie in bed and kiss him if she wanted to. She wanted him to be able to kiss back and make her feel loved. Back when he couldn’t see her she would lie in bed with him and wish he would just wrap his arms around her. She would crave it sometimes but she knew it wouldn’t happen because to him she wasn’t really there.

He kissed her deeper and runs tongue along her lower lip asking her for entrance. She graciously gives it to him, allowing his tongue to explore her mouth.

Then all of a sudden there was a loud banging sound from downstairs.

Emma immediately pulled away, “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

The banging sound starts again.

“That!”

“It sounds like someone is knocking on the door.”

“Who the hell is knocking on your door at...” Emma pauses to look over at the alarm clock on his nightstand table, “2:24 in the morning?”

“I don’t know but I say we find out. Burglars typically aren’t gentlemen and knock.”

“I’m still getting up to see who it is too.”

Emma and Killian both get out of bed and Emma grabs her white sweater from the floor while Killian throws on his sweatpants and tee shirt he had earlier discarded. Emma exited the room first and made her way to the stairs and descended about halfway before stopping and sitting down so she could comfortably watch the whole conversation. Killian was quick to follow her down the stairs and reached the door just as a third set of knocks started.

“What do you wan- Grace?” Killian has no idea why Regina’s daughter would be on his doorstep at 2:30 in the morning. He hasn’t talked to her since before Rachel came and took Joss and Liam. he’s seen her since but he has no idea why she’d be here now.

“Hi.” She waves her hand and looks down sheepishly. 

“What are you doing here at 2:30 in the morning?” Killian stands blocking the doorway. The two just stand there awkwardly, neither not really knowing what to do.

“I finally decided I needed to talk to you.” She’s been meaning to talk to Killian? Emma doesn’t know what to think. It’s all so confusing

“Ok well, what is so important you needed to see me at 2:30, lass?”

“My Mom doesn't know I'm here.” Grace says finally pushing past Killian and into the house. She starts pacing as if she is nervous, “She thinks I'm at Roland's and Roland is going to cover for me if she asks.”

Grace keeps pacing and starts wringing her hands together.

“Spit it out Grace.” Killian tells her and she stops her pacing for a second and stands taller, her hands are still wringing together.

“Why are you happy?” she finally blurts out after a few seconds.

“What?” It’s clear Killian is shocked by Grace’s question. Emma can see the shock on his face from her spot on the stairs. She knows how shocked he is because Emma feels it too. It’s as if Grace knew exactly what they were talking about before she got to the door. 

“Why are you happy?” Grace repeats, this time with more certainty.

“I heard you the first time, Grace. So you came all the way over here at this ungodly hour to ask me that?” Killian finally asks her.

“Yes.” She says unflinchingly.

“Why?”

“In this whole town you are one of the only people that ever looks even remotely happy and I want to know why. With all the cards you've been dealt, how the hell are you happy? Is it Emma?” She fires at him.

“Wait what?” Killian does a double take but Emma doesn’t know why. Grace didn’t say anything that triggered any warning bells.

“It has to be Emma.” Grace starts pacing again. Now it’s more like she’s talking to herself than to Killian- Wait! Did Grace say her name? She had to have. Grace keeps babbling, “You're the only one in the town that is together with their true love and it would make sense that you're happy even though your kids are with the devil’s spawn.”

Grace is really pacing fast now and her words are almost spilling out of her now. It’s like she’s trying to get ll her thoughts out at once.

“Grace, slow down.” Killian takes Grace by the shoulders and looks her in the eyes. “You can see her?”

“Yes of course I can see her! Why the hell wouldn’t I be able to see her? I’ve always seen her. I mean she’s my best friend’s mom. I’ve known her since I was little and-”

“You’ve always seen me?” Emma interrupts, finally breaking her silence from the stairs.

“Yes.” Grace says exasperatedly.

“Killian could only see me about a year ago. Why have you always been able to see me?”

“Wait, backtrack.” Grace holds up her hands trying to stop the conversation and figure out what Emma meant. “What do you mean he was only able to see you about a year ago?”

“Grace, I’m invisible.” Emma says matter a factly.

“That makes so much sense.” She breaths out. Her shoulders sag and she takes a deep breath. Emma watches as it looks like all the pieces of a puzzle are falling into place.

“Wait, really?” Emma asks.

“Killian is the only one that acknowledges you and he talks to you with earbuds in and you always walk around like you own the place and oh my god it makes so much sense.”

“You noticed all that?”

“Of course I did. There was something about it all that kind of bothered me. It was as if overnight you just pissed everyone off so much that the entire town decided to give you the cold shoulder. I always thought it was weird and when I asked my mom about it she had no idea who you were. That didn’t make any sense to me since you guys were pretty good friends.”

Emma looks to her husband, “Killian, she said everything changed overnight.”

“I know.”

“Ok Grace, we are going to sit down and talk about what you know.” Emma looks back to Grace.

“What do you mean?”

“Grace, the town is cursed and I think you’re the key.”

...

47 days later

 

A burst of energy pulses through the town and through Emma as she sleeps beside Killian. The moment it’s through her she’s immediately up and bolting to the bathroom.

“She did it. Oh please tell me she did it.” Emma mutters to herself as she slides through the hall with her socks on.

She sprints through the hall and pushes her way through the bathroom door and immediately looks to the mirror. But before she can do it she looks down to the sink and takes a deep breath, “She did it. She has to have done it. Grace please.”

Emma takes another deep breath and looks up to the mirror and for the first time in almost five years she sees herself staring back at her. “Oh my god!”

Emma immediately falls to her knees and brings her hand up to her mouth and sobs. She’s not invisible anymore. She’ll have her family back. No, she has her family back.

She has to go. 

She has to go right now.

She rushes back to her and Killian’s bedroom and jumps onto the bed and shakes Killian’s shoulders.

“Love, what is it?”

“She did it. Grace did it!” She can’t stop smiling.

“Aye?”

“Yes, we need to go.”

Killian practically jumps out of bed and throws on a pair of pants and an old tee shirt. Emma grabs his hand they rush down the stairs and out the door, not caring that the door is still wide open and all the lights are still on.

...

They’re running down Main street towards the center of town when Emma says, “Liam first.”

“Aye, we need to get him out of there before Rachel wakes up.”

“Almost half the town is up. She has to be up.” Emma concludes.

“Emma!” They hear yelled from down the street. Emma looks around to try and locate the source and sees Snow running down the street towards them.

“Mom?”

“Emma!” Snow reaches Emma and pulls her in for a hug.

“Mom!”

They just hold each other. It’s been so long since they’ve actually hugged. Emma has long since forgotten about her mother’s smell of apples. Emma feels a few tears slide down her face and down her chin before they drop onto her mother’s sweater.

After a few moments of relishing each other’s touch, Snow pulls away and holds Emma’s face in her hands, “Oh honey you did it. You broke the curse like we knew you would. Have you seen your father? I don’t know where he is.”

“No, and this wasn’t me.”

“What? You didn’t break the curse with true love’s kiss?”

Emma shakes her head and pulls away from Snow’s grasp, “No, I woke him up about a year ago but we didn’t do this.”

“Then who did?”

“Grace.” Joss says looking at Emma for the first time in years.

“Joss!” Emma runs to her and envelopes her daughter in her arms. Joss stills for a moment unsure on how to take the situation. For the past five years she was convinced her mom was dead and her dad was someone that chose alcohol over them. But she quickly wrapped her arms around her mom and hugged her back.

It was so many emotions pent up over so long that Emma couldn’t take it anymore. She cried happy tears into her daughter’s hair. After a few minutes of hugging she pulled away, “You look at you! So grown up.”

“I know.” Joss whispered back.

“I can’t believe I had to miss it all.”

“I’m so sorry.” Grace interjects the sweet family moment between mother and daughter. Emma lets go of Joss and Killian quickly brings her into his arms. 

Emma grabs Grace’s hands and rubs them carefully, “Grace we’ve been over this. You did not do this. Just because you cast the curse does not mean you meant to do it.”

“I know.”

“Grace, have you been to see your parents yet?”

“We were at Roland’s and Joss wanted to find you guys.” Grace replies. Joss hasn’t seen her parents in years and Grace lives with her mom. It seemed to be the only obvious answer to go find Killian and Emma first.

“We were going to get Liam because he’s with Rachel right?” Emma asks the girls. 

“Yeah,” Joss replies from her embrace with Killian. She pulls away and Killian wraps his arm around her and pulls her closer into his side, clearly not ready to let her go yet.

“Killian, we need to go. Right now.”

“I want to go.” Joss declares.

“No, Joss-”

“I haven’t seen either of you in years. I want to come. And he’s my brother.”

“Fine, then you can stay outside of the house with Grace then.” Emma says caving to her daughter. Normally she might’ve put up a better fight but today she doesn’t really have it in her to fight with her especially since she hasn’t talked with her in nearly 5 years.

“Ok.”

The four of them take off down the street and don’t even look back to the confused Snow they left behind, who eventually takes off in the opposite direction looking for David.

...

“Rachel Stop!”

“Liam, we need to go right now. They’ll be here any minute and we need to be gone before they get here.”

“Rachel I’m not going with you. Yes, I spent the last 5 years with you cursed, but you’re not my mom. My mom is out there right now looking for me and I need to find her. I need to find my real parents.” They can hear Liam say from outside.

“No, you’re staying with me and we need to go now.” Rachel says sternly. Emma and Killian watch as Rachel grips Liam’s arm so hard that it turns red and yanks him back toward the kitchen.

“Rachel!” Killian yells. Liam whips around and looks at his parents dumbfoundedly. It’s as if he’s having a hard time believing that they are actually there in front of him.

“Mom? Dad?”

“Liam! Honey we’re so sorry this happened.” Emma tells him looking him straight into the eyes.

Rachel keeps trying to pull Liam towards the back of the house, but Liam is really struggling now. He isn’t give up now that he finally has both his parents back. No, he is not giving in to her.

Emma doesn’t know what to do. She can’t lose her son again. She just can’t. She loves him so much and she’s afraid to know what will happen if Rachel takes him again.

“Rachel, I know why you did it!” Emma yells. Rachel stops pulling Liam, but it doesn’t stop the iron vice like grip she still has on Liam. He tries to yank his arm away from her but he can’t not with her hand still tightly gripping his wrist.

“What the hell do you know? You and your perfect family. You have no idea why I did it.” Rachel spits out at her.

“You were alone and in pain and you felt like no one could see you. Trust me I know what that feels like.” Emma fires back. She knows better than anyone what it feels like to be alone now.

“No, you don’t. You have three beautiful children, the love of your life, parents that care. You have everything. Since when do you know what it’s like to be alone.”

“Rachel, I know you missed the first curse, so you clearly don’t know what my life was like before I had all this.” Emma gestures around to her family members scattered around the room. “Trust me I was more alone than you ever could be. And then for the past five years I’ve been so alone. I could see everyone in my family moving on. I could see them but they couldn’t see me. That hurts. I could watch everyone in my family hurting and I couldn’t do anything about it.”

“You still have them though. They’re here. Right now they’re here. I still have no one.”

“I know and I’m sorry for what happened to them, but that doesn’t give you the right to do what you did. You ask for help. You try to move on and get help. You don’t curse the entire town and take away their family.”

“I tried! People are only there for as long as they can help themselves. I had to take matters into my own hands.”

“No, you didn’t. You shoved your matters into the hands of a 12 year old. A 12 year old that now has to live with the fact that you made her cast a curse and ruin everyone’s lives. You did that to her. Why couldn’t you just do that yourself? You wanted to ruin everyone’s lives so you could be happy yet you didn’t have the guts to do it yourself?!”

“I couldn’t. I would never be happy if I always had to remember them. I needed to forget them!” Rachel screams at her. Emma can see the pain in Rachel’s eyes. She knows that pain because she had it once too.

“Rachel, the only way to move on and be happy is to let them go. You need to stop holding onto the pain. Hold onto the memories but let go of the pain.”

Rachel lets go of Liam’s arm and crumples to the floor. Liam scrambles out of her grasp and into Killian’s waiting arms a few feet away. “But it hurts. It hurts so much. I feel so alone.” She starts to sob.

“I know, but you have to embrace what they meant to you and try to move on.”

Rachel stills with her head in her hands. She’s so broken and falling apart. Emma holds her breath waiting for her answer. 

“Ok,” Rachel whispers.

“Ok?”

“Yes, ok. I’m so sorry. I needed to make the pain go away.”

“I know. The feeling goes away. You just have to give it time. I’ll be there for you this time.”

“You will?”

“Of course I will Rachel. I know how hard it is to be alone and this time you aren’t going to be.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re not as alone as you think you are, Rachel. We are going to help you.” Emma gestures to Killian and Liam.

Rachel slowly starts to look up from the floor, “Well, if you’re going to help me you need to stop calling me Rachel.”

“So what do you want to be called?” Killian asks.

“Rapunzel. Call me Rapunzel.”

**Author's Note:**

> I really battled with myself over who I wanted to be the villain of this fic. I really thought about it for a week back in June. I just couldn't figure out who worked best. Who was the best fit for the fic being alone. I looked at a lot of Grimm's fairytales and tried to find a character that hadn't been used in the show. Ariel really stuck with me but she has a really sweet story on the show and wouldn't really work.
> 
> Rapunzel's story really stuck with me. I for a while considered doing Mother Gothel because she could work but you see in the Disney version and the Grimm version she never took Rapunzel because she was lonely. She took her for payment or revenge or her own personal selfish reasons. Rapunzel really worked for me because if you do read the Grimm's fairytale, which is a really messed up story, you'd see the loneliness she has and this was just kind of my take on that. Also Rapunzel was in the show for one minor episode but I really ahted the shows way of doing her and wished it had been better so we're just going to omit it.
> 
> Finally Rapunzel's family was all killed in a car crash. Her main goal was just to stop the pain she was feeling that was it. She didn't mean to punish Emma that was just how the curse played out.
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading!
> 
> -M
> 
> Review?


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